Pro IT Zone

2008 is going to be a great year for technology. With only three months big announcements have been made, especially in the notebooks area. Many PC vendors have made great announcements and the processor chip makers are going to make news soon.

Recently Lenovo launched their new ultraportable notebook and has declared the war to Apple against their MacBook Air. I made some reviews on the Apple MacBook Air on a post couple of days ago. I know that the announce of the Lenovo ThinkPad X300 was also made a couple of days before, but I wanted to study both notebooks very well before making a comparison… a true “Mano A Mano”.

For this Mano A Mano, I’m going to compare both technologies, design and a couple of more things. Kodachi (the Lenovo’s ThinkPad X300 codename) promises to be a great product, the same as the MacBook Air, both focuses mainly to users that are frequent travelers to need processing power and portability.

Lets get started with some of the comparisons:

	ThinkPad X300	MacBook Air	Advantage
Mobility	92cu”(1.5L) .73 - .92″ (18.6 - 23.4mm) thin 2.93 lbs. (1.33kg) w/3 battery, 4.3 hours 3.12 lbs. (1.42kg) w/ 6 battery, 6.5 hours 3.51 lbs. (1.59kg) w/ 6 and 3 battery, 10 hours	53cu” (0.87L) 0.16-.76“ thick (4 – 19.3 mm) 3.0 lbs. (1.36kg) Battery Life – 5 hours Battery is not user replaceable	ThinkPad – lighter, max battery life, choice of batteries Apple – thinner at the thickest point
Core Technology	Intel Core 2 Duo SL7100 LV 64 bit 800MHz (965GMS) to 4GB 667MHz DDR2 memory 13.3″ WXGA+ (300 nit) LED Backlight	Intel core 2 Duo 1.6GHz or 1.8GHz (965GMS) Max 2GB of 667MHz on Board (Not upgradeable) 13.3″ WXGA (300 nit?) LED Backlight	ThinkPad – max memory, higher resolution panel Apple – better CPU performance
Graphics & Storage	Intel Integrated GMA X3100 SATA 64GB Solid State Drive (optional FDE available) No Turbo Memory (not needed with SSD) 1 Fixed Bay (7 mm)	Intel Integrated GMA X3100 SATA 64GB Solid State Drive or 80GB 1.8” 4200rpm No Turbo Memory (not needed with SSD) No optical	ThinkPad –optical drive, FDE option Apple – HDD option for capacity
I/O and Audio	No IR, no PS/2, 3 USB 2.0, no Serial, no Parallel, no S-Video out, no Firewire, 0 PC Card slots, 0 Express Card slots; no media reader, yes mic, yes camera, No HDMI	No IR, no PS/2, 1 USB 2.0, no Serial, no Parallel, opt. S-Video out, DVI, no Firewire, 0 PC Card slots, 0 Express Card slots; no media reader, yes mic, yes camera, No HDMI	ThinkPad – 3 USB, stereo speaker w/higher quality Apple – DVI port
Manageability	USB Port Replicator No image compatibility Rescue & Recovery, ImageUltra, Away Manager, other ThinkVantage Technologies	External USB Options Apple iLife Suite – optimized for consumer, not commercial	ThinkPad – manageability tools Apple– iLife suite
Security	Std. TPM v1.2 chip, Opt. Fingerprint, No Smart Card Reader; no Full Data Encryption HDD, BIOS disable of all ports, password manager	No TPM chip, No Fingerprint, No Smart Card Reader; no Full Data Encryption HDD, no PW manager	ThinkPad – A lot better security features
Connectivity/Wireless	Intel 802.11n, USB Modem Opt. GPS, Opt. Wi-Max, Yes UWB, Yes Bluetooth Integrated Wireless WAN option 1GB Ethernet (Intel – Centrino Pro Available) Access Connections software	802.11n Wi-Fi,  USB Modem No GPS, No Wi-Max, No UWB, Yes Bluetooth No Wireless WAN option NO Ethernet (USB option)	ThinkPad – Everything
Ease Of Use	ThinkPad Utilities, UltraNav, 7 row keyboard, wireless on/off switch, ThinkLight, individual battery control, super quiet design, superior thermals	6 row keyboard with reduced travel, touchpad only, backlight keyboard, Ambient Light sensor, Apple machines run HOT	ThinkPad – 7 row keyboard + TrackPoint, Superior Thermals Apple– backlight keyboard, ALS
Quality	Roll Cage: Hybrid CFRP top, Mg bottom, EPEAT GOLD Stainless steel display hinges; 2 display latches; Yes shock mount HDD Yes spill resistant keyboard	Design!, EPEAT Silver No Shock Mount HDD, Yes Accelerometer No Spill Resistant Keyboard	ThinkPad – dual latches, stronger hinges, stronger case, EPEAT Gold Apple – design is widely considered better

As you can see both models have their own advantages and disadvantages. I personally think that both are well constructed and are made for different needs. It is clear that the ThinkPad X300 has more technical  and features advantages than the MacBook, but the main problem of the ThinkPad X300 is the price. The MacBook Air is a cheaper than the X300, and this is because the X300 uses a Solid State Drive which today it is more expensive than the traditional disks.

Another advantage that the MacBook Air has is that it uses Mac OS X Leppard, which is less propense to get infected by a virus or a malware, Windows Vista with all its security features can easily get infected without an antivirus.

The choice is yours, I hope that the information post here can help to make a better purcharse.

OK, two are the most popular browsers now available on the Internet and the most frequent used. But which one is better? For years Internet Explorer has been used especially because it comes pre installed in all the Windows Based computers, but suddenly Mozilla FireFox started to gain some popularity because it is supported by many users across the Internet and other big sites like Google.

After making a simple research with common users with a little of knowledge in computing and daring them to take the test here are some of the results:

Installation:

Microsoft Internet Explorer: Installing Internet Explorer requires a reboot, the application to download is big and you have to turn off your antivirus and antispyware programs during the installation. A backup of important files it is recommended before doing any changes to your PC.

Mozilla FireFox: The download was fast and easy, the package is small and during the installation no reboots are required. Also you don’t have to turn off your antivirus nor antispyware software. No need to make backup of files.

Tabbed Browsing:

Microsoft Internet Explorer: Tabs can be easily opened and closed. This is a feature that was not available on past versions. Internet Explorer also includes a thumbnail viewer.

Mozilla FireFox: Tabs can also be easily opened and closed. This feature was available since the beginning of FireFox. It doesn’t include a thumbnail viewer but tabs can be opened faster.

Security Features:

Microsoft Internet Explorer: Now it has integrated a phishing filter which checks legitimate sites and sites that may compromise your personal information against a whitelist. It can notify you whenever a script it trying to be installed on your browser and block emerging windows fast.

Mozilla FireFox: Also adds antiphising features and gives the choice to check suspicious websites against Google blacklists. It also notifies you when a script is trying to be installed and gives you the choice to block emerging windows. Histories and cookies can be deleted faster with only one click button. It delivers fasters upgrades and patches.

Browsing Speed:

Microsoft Internet Explorer: Sometimes browsing the web can be slow. Depending on how heavy is a website it may take some time to load a page.

Mozilla FireFox: It is load webpages very fast. Prioritize text to be loaded and then images, that what it makes it faster.

Those are some of the points exposed by the people who made the test, also another point that they might all not noticed if that Mozilla FireFox is more compatible with the Web Standards, you may test it by visiting the WebStandards Website.

Both browsers in my opinion have they pros and cons, I personally prefer Mozilla FireFox in this case the real judge will be YOU!